Coastal Breeze News

By James M. Lang, Commander, Marco Island VFW Post #6370 A Memorial Day Ceremony will be held at Veterans Community Park on Bald Eagle Drive on Monday, the 27th of May at 11:00 am. All are invited to attend and honor veterans for their service to our country. There will be members of the Marco Island fire and police departments, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol, the Boy Scouts and the VFW Post. Music will be provided by the Marco Island Strummers, including patriotic songs and a double-bugle taps. The Civil Air Patrol will be doing a fly ... Read More »

The race is on to find a professional city manager for Marco Island. On the heels of City Manager Jim Riviere’s retirement announcement last month, the Marco Island City Council voted 6-1 to issue an RFQ for head hunting firms interested in helping the city find his replacement. Councilman Chuck Keister was alone in his dissent. “I don’t agree we need to hire a search firm,” Keister told City Council. “I don’t think we need to spend the money for a search firm.” After nearly an hour of debate, though, council ordered city staff to issue the RFQ and coordinate ... Read More »

By Coastal Breeze News Staff Keller Williams put out a call to their local agents in preparation for their annual Red Day. The challenge: help a child with autism. Red Day (which stands for Renew, Energize and Donate) is a local service day for Keller Williams agents held in communities around the world. So, the call went out, do you know of an autistic child who could use our help? There was no response. Finally, one agent, Ellen Henderson, responded, “If you don’t find anyone, my daughter has three year old autistic twins.” Plans were immediately set in motion to ... Read More »

By Noelle H. Lowery [email protected] Last week, the Marco Island City Council unanimously approved to spend $976,143 to replace its water utility’s Marco Lakes Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) Pump Station. Council also gave a nod to the three-pronged team to complete the project. The decision to replace the 48-year pump station could not have come soon enough for Marco Island Utilities’ General Manager Jeff Poteet. “The pumps in this station are obsolete,” he explained to council. “The parts must be manufactured, and that causes extended down time and higher repair costs.” Originally slated to be completed in 2011, the Marco ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom [email protected] It’s a big year for Florida; so many reasons to celebrate. The year 2013 marks the 500th Anniversary of the discovery of Florida, the 85th Anniversary of the Tamiami Trail and the 90th Anniversary of Collier County – all of which are noteworthy in their own right. So, plan on parties throughout the year. Some may be similar to the night of May 8th, where a full auditorium celebrated the 90th Anniversary of Collier County thanks to the efforts of the Collier County Museums. The evening was held at North Collier Regional Park and promised four ... Read More »

By Noelle H. Lowery [email protected] It’s almost that time of year again, parents. Summer break! Now, now, no heavy sighs. From the city of Marco Island Parks and Recreation programs to the Greater Marco Family YMCA to local churches, parents will be happy to know that Marco Island is teeming with organized summer activities for their kids — many of them starting June 5, the day after school is out for the summer. This is good news for everyone. According to the American Camp Association, organized camp experiences are the safest experiences for children, while also helping them develop social ... Read More »

By Chris Sparacino City of Marco Island CFM, Planner/Floodplain Coordinator In the wake of Super Storm Sandy in October 2012, and the recent April flooding events in the Midwest, the reality and need for flood insurance once again becomes an important topic. With 98 percent of Marco Island lying within the Special Flood Hazards Area (SFHA) many residents are already bound by their lenders to the mandatory purchase of federally backed flood insurance. Many new homeowners are surprised to find out that their homeowner’s insurance policies do not cover flooding. Even if a single family residence is located in an ... Read More »

By Randall Kenneth Jones For what seems like two full years out of every four, politics dominates the media—speeches and rhetoric, profiles and promises. Understandably, those pursuing the highest offices in the land receive the vast majority of the attention. However, no single elected official runs our nation. Yes, “it takes a village” to preside over the countless villages, towns, cities and municipalities throughout our nation. But there are innumerable unsung heroes at the local and regional level—veritable fixtures in our assorted home towns who, without fanfare, ultimately serve as the backbone of our government. By her own admission, Collier ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom [email protected] “When you go to bed at night your skin should be as clean as a baby’s bottom when you put it to bed.” This somewhat odd sounding sentence couldn’t sound any sweeter when spoken by Pamela Campbell of Marco Island Skin & Body Boutique. Open for just over a year, Campbell’s company offers a wide array of skin treatments, “after all, your skin is the largest organ you have, but it’s so easily neglected,” points out Campbell. Marco Island Skin & Body Boutique offers massages, waxing, make-up, facials, micropeels, dermal rejuvenation, collagen CO-Q10 facials and more. ... Read More »

By Noelle H. Lowery [email protected] Aqua Beachwear has relocated. After ten years at its Marco Walk location, Aqua Beachwear has taken over the space formerly used by Island Drug in Marco Town Center. The move has increased the shop’s size from 1,900 square feet to 3,000 square feet, allowing Aqua Beachwear to expand it offerings to more than 5,000 bathing suits, cover-ups and various beachwear accessories. “We chose our new location to enlarge our selection, offer more accessibility to our customers and gain more visibility,” explains Don Bauer, owner of Aqua Beachwear. “We are very pleased with the move. Our ... Read More »

By Eddie Webb The U-12 Marco Island Optimist Eagles opened the short spring season against the Lee County Hawks at Fleishman Park in Naples. After joining the newly formed “South West Florida Youth Football League” the Eagles were looking forward to the first game. What could only be described as a “David vs. Goliath” when it came to the size of the teams, the football game was about as even a match as could have been hoped for. The Marco Eagles team of only 13 players went against the Hawks who fielded a team of over 40 young players. The ... Read More »

Submitted The City of Marco Island Beach Advisory Committee is conducting a monthly beach clean-up on Sunday, May 19th, 2013, 8 AM, at the South Beach boardwalk access. All public is welcome to participate! Partnering with the Beach Advisory Committee in the beach clean-ups are Publix Supermarket and Marco Island Civic Association (MICA). Both have sponsored the monthly beach clean-ups for the past two years, providing bags, gloves and bottled water to all participants. MICA assists with a beach vehicle to cart the supplies, tired participants and the full bags of trash. MICA also disposes properly all trash and debris ... Read More »

By Natalie Strom [email protected] The Optimist Club of Marco Island is certainly known for its successful sports programs such as soccer, football, cheerleading and basketball. Many of the Optimist programs utilize Mackle Park’s fields and recreation areas which are run by the City of Marco Island’s Parks and Recreation Division. On Thursday, May 9th, OCMI President Eddie Webb and Treasurer Kris Hodgdon presented a check to Mindy Gordon and Lola Dial of Parks and Recreation to the tune of $700. “The $700 scholarship will cover one child for Camp Mackle for the whole summer,” explained Gordon. “That includes the field ... Read More »

By Carol Glassman Many people dream of visiting Australia and New Zealand, but those same people are usually intimidated by the distance and the cost. These are certainly facts to consider but when you think of the rewards of being in these unique countries, you may find it worth the effort. Give yourself a lot of lead time to plan the trip, and if you ever thought about cashing in those reward points you have been so carefully stashing, now may be the time to do it and splurge. This may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so make the most of ... Read More »

PROTECTING & PRESERVING Nancy Richie [email protected] With smile-like expressions on their faces, serious agility that translates to playfulness to human observers and a curiosity that may equal ours, dolphins are WILD animals – marine mammals that need to be treated as such to keep them that way. “Flipper” is the iconic dolphin whose story created the myth that a wild dolphin is naturally friendly and never a menace. In fact, “Flipper” was a trained, captive dolphin (actually several dolphins) who did tricks on command for food, happily accepting the food and did not bite the hand that fed him. In ... Read More »

By Coastal Breeze News Staff At around the same time as an endangered leatherback sea turtle was being rescued, a heavily invasive species – the Burmese python – was just being discovered under a valve cover box on Mainsail Drive. Lawn care workers opened the valve cover to find a large, shiny snake coiled up at the bottom of the box. Mike Gee, an employee at the Marco Shores Wastewater Treatment Plant quickly identified it as a Burmese python. According to the city, Gee is a collector of snakes and well-versed in species of reptiles and exotic pets who identified ... Read More »

By Coastal Breeze News Staff On May 9th, a surprise visitor to our waters was thankfully rescued by Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve staff and Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). A boater approximately three miles west of Caxambas Pass on Marco Island called the FWC to report that a turtle was apparently entangled in a crab trap. RBNERR staff member Greg Curry was contacted and set out to find the turtle. To the surprise of many, it was actually a leatherback turtle, one not commonly found along the Gulf shore. As seen in the photos, Curry was ... Read More »

By Julia Barnett If you’re looking for something fut to do in June, why not make it something that also does a lot of good? Saturday, June 8th, will be the First Annual SUP Poker Run, benefitting Special Olympics Florida and our local Special Olympics SUP team. SUP stands for Stand Up Paddle, and it’s a sport that’s new to the Special Olympics world, working its miracles on the kids who need it. The Special Olympics is the largest sports organization for people with intellectual disabilities in the world. It provides year-round games events, and training for over four million ... Read More »

GOODLAND LIFE Strange things happen in Goodland. But by “strange” I don’t mean bad – not by any means – just unusual, out of the ordinary, whacky, crazy, funny, “You can’t make this s#@! up,” kind of stuff. Here’s a good story that is completely true and completely odd. “The Pickling” Late one evening, I opened my front door for a reason of which I can’t recall. Whatever it is that I was doing, I stopped in my tracks when I noticed something strange on my front doorstep – two jars of brand new, unopened pickles. One a sweet; the ... Read More »

SOUTHERN SKIES By Mike P. Usher [email protected] There are several dog constellations in tTonight we have a rare visual treat! We have not two, but three planets in conjunction, Venus, Jupiter and Mercury. Technically, a pair of planets are in conjunction when they share the same right ascension, the celestial equivalent of longitude, but the word is commonly used whenever planets make a close pass. In this case, Jupiter has been moving towards the western horizon for some time now. Earlier this month Venus appeared very low in the west and has been rising a little higher each evening as ... Read More »